Up close and personal view as winner gets own art show

The Harley Gallery's Rebecca Hardy with a solo show running alongside the Harley Open 2017

ART LOVERS accustomed to being told not to get too close to the exhibits may be taken aback by those currently on view at a gallery in the south of the region.

The artist Olivier Marc Thomas Leger produces images of nature from fine liner pens, and encourages viewers to examine the detail with the use of a magnifying glass.

Mr Leger was the 2015 winner of the judges’ prize and people’s prize at the Harley Gallery’s biennial open competition, which exhibits work by established and emerging artists in South Yorkshire and the east Midlands. His solo exhibition, Whale Wails and Waves is running alongside this year’s open at the gallery, which is on the Welbeck Estate near Worksop.

The Harley Open itself features 103 pieces from more than 750 entries submitted, and runs until August 20.

Hannah Obee, exhibitions curator at Chatsworth, who was one of the judges, said: “With 80 per cent of submissions coming from a 50 mile radius, it proves once again the extraordinary talent to be found in the north.”

The overall winner, to be announced on Saturday, will be rewarded with a solo show alongside the 2019 open.